old europe wrote:NOT have "free and open trade", maybe? Not that the US would propagate free and open trade, at least not in any case...
Oh, and I wasn't aware that American workers were only working 2 hours a day.
I didn't say they were. I was simply pointing out that there are lots of ways we would like to make a living, just working 2 hours per day if we could, but in a competitive world, we don't always get to do things the way we would like. Obvious point being, the automobile manufacturers developed an industry that went pretty much unchallenged so that the unions kept adding more perks, higher wages, and all the rest until guess what, foreign imports are being made at comparable quality for much less money.
Many people would like to build an economic fence around this country to insulate ourselves from the competitive forces outside our borders. For a number of obvious reasons in this modern world, that simply is not going to work. So my argument is we might as well take a good look in the mirror and face the facts. Otherwise, our economy will increasingly suffer the consequences. As long as we have a technological advantage over other countries, we can continue to enjoy our wealth as a benefit of being able to market our technology, but if we lose that edge, and I think we are in danger of losing it, our economy will suffer. Just my opinion.
